Dancing Fox In XII: Dance If You Want To

[Fenric]

Frederick winces

Sorry, Cleo... Karen distracted me.

This gets a huge grin.

You find me distracting do you? How cute!

she surreptitiously sniffs, then looks momentarily nonplussed, then fidgets a bit before noticing her own tail which makes her start slightly. She tries to recover nonchalantly

So... who is it you're waiting for, if you don't mind my asking?

by this point, Frederick is struggling heroically to not laugh

[Recaiden]

How curious. What is it non-plussing her?

Cleo chuckles at seeing Karen start at her own tail.

"For my fiance Keiko-" Cleo puts on a distant dreamy look before looking to Frederick "-and is Helen coming?"

[Fenric]

Why, the fact that she really can't smell anything like she's used to, of course.

Frederick shakes his head

I'm afraid not: she's been too busy, lately.

then he grins

Keiko is quite the character: I'm sure you'll like her, even though she sometimes talks too much! Hopefully she gets here soon.

Karen snorts

Talks too much! Um... oh, that's too bad. But I'm sure we'll get along.

Frederick fails his will save, and starts to laugh.

[Recaiden]

"I dunno. She might be jealous of someone who can distract Frederick. Could even quiet her down for a moment. Your tails will match, though."

Cleo winks and gives Frederick a playful shove.

"Don't be rude."
"Well, we were about to set off on an archaeological adventure! Care to come along?"

[Fenric]

Keiko breaks out in giggles herself

Ok, ok... not too subtle, I know. I wanted to try out this shape!

I had a chat with the Temple's expert on "how to be a kitsune", Dr Katsuo, and it was really helpful. Besides learning that I can look like pretty much whatever I very well feel like - with one caveat - the biggest thing for us is that since you'll be my guests, I'm in charge of your time there and not even Ms. Ten-Tails can do anything about that.

Frederick

Ok. And what's the caveat to your shapechanging?

Keiko snorts and holds up the her tail

I have to keep at least one thing from my true form. Now since that's a little complicated for me, I should be able to pick between a dragon characteristic or a fox characteristic... but I've not got the hang of it yet, and he said your tail is the hardest thing to hide.

[Recaiden]

And Cleo has to join in the laughter.

"Well, how do you like being 'Karen'? It's quite something, being able to change like that. Keeping the same outfit is much of a giveaway though."

She gives a shrug.
"The tail is the most obvious thing. Especially one like yours. Good to know about the time. Wouldn't want to lose a decade or something like that."

[Arkhosia]

Jinkei stares at Blanche for a bit, then pulls back and grabs her ball through her pocket. Focusing, she's able to withdraw the feelings being imposed on Blanche, but the heat in her immediate area still remains.

"I apologize for that. When I'm feeling particularly strongly for a given person, my feelings tend to affect others in the surroundings." She dabs her lips with a napkin. "That's how much I want to be friends."

Blanche is quite stunned to learn this: that was immensely powerful, after all.
Jinkei, I don't know yet if what I feel is love, it's a hard emotion to sort out after all. I really do need to think about it.
Blanche responds

[Cyber Punk]

Jinkei looks slightly hurt, but she nods. She walks up to Blanche, this time the imposed feelings out of the way, and takes her hand. "I know I shouldn't rush you, but... Just one night, please Blanche? Then you can decide." She leans in to peck Blanche on the lips.

[Fenric]

And Cleo has to join in the laughter.

"Well, how do you like being 'Karen'? It's quite something, being able to change like that. Keeping the same outfit is much of a giveaway though."

She gives a shrug.
"The tail is the most obvious thing. Especially one like yours. Good to know about the time. Wouldn't want to lose a decade or something like that."

Keiko bobbles her head

It's ok. It's a bit chilly, though, and things don't quite fit right without my fur. Can't see as well as my dragon shape, can't smell as well as my fox shape, and can't hear as well as either... though if it was hotter outside I could see it being nice, and shower was more fun.

And yeah, yeah: it was a random last minute thing, so I didn't have a chance to change. Supposedly I can shift my clothing too, but that's on the long list of "stuff I haven't figured out yet."

Then she nods and wags her tail now that she isn't even trying to hide it anymore

Honestly, I can't imagine being without my tail. Nine gets a bit weird sometimes, but it's so much easier to balance when I can just adjust my tail around.

And a decade would be nothing: the big guys will happily steal a thousand years.

[Recaiden]

"Well, there's not so much to recommend being human on an individual level."

Cleo's biting her lip again as she gives a nod. Stupid distracting Karen. Stop that, she thinks fruitlessly. This shouldn't bother her.

"A thousand years might not be so bad as ten. Everything would be different and unfamiliar again. Could you just fall in after a ten year gap? But after a millenium, what is there left to need to fall to?"

[Fenric]

Keiko grins and stretches, unwittingly (yes, really) giving Cleo and Frederick another minor show

Silk feels nicer! I hadn't really thought how it would feel directly on your skin like this.

Then she sits back and nods

And yeah, I suppose a bigger change would be easier in some ways... but better to avoid the whole situation anyway.

So! It sounds like things work a lot like going to the Shadows: exactly where we enter and leave is a bit vague, with the added fun of exactly when being vague unless there's someone to control that - in this case, me. That means there's no need to go all the way back to the temple: we can just leave from here. BUT, Kenji warned me that talking to these higher-end domain folks has a certain protocol and we've got to find gifts to bring with us. If we do things right, then she has to be polite to us instead of just throwing us out on our ears or setting her guards at us or anything annoying like that. Katsuo warned that she'll try to trick us, and we need to be really careful about what we say because it's really easy to accidentally end up making agreements that you can't break afterwards. If it really is her, we're gonna have a tough time getting it away from her... but if it wasn't her then we're going to have a delicate situation to avoid her putting a claim on it, and um...

she blushes and looks down

They both thought it might be best if I didn't say much while we're in the Queen's court...

[Recaiden]

"A better sense of touch, maybe?"

Cleo nods.

"We won't have any time problems at all, right? Right."
"So we need a gift. Did he give any insight on what sort of things would be suitable? Or is it a more ceremonial thing? And we have to be really careful what we say - maybe let me do the talking to her about it, or Frederick, when he has to. No promises, no pledges, as few implications as possible. We didn't think it was her taking it, but she would want a claim on it, I'm sure." What's the plan for actually getting her to give it to us, hmm? She might see us politely and then we'd have to go without getting anything but words."

[Fenric]

Keiko's ears flick a little

Uh... right. We won't.

Frederick looks at her

As long as it's successfully "we" - I'm guessing that getting back home again without Keiko could possibly be challenging.

Keiko nods, and slumps forward a bit with her chin propped up on her right hand.

Well... yeah... that would be a problem... But we 're not going to get split up, right?

And we just need to stop off at home for the gifts. I wasn't just being silly when I was teasing the spibird: shadowsilk is expensive and it's not easy to come by even if you have the resources to pay for it. Dad's kingdom may not have much, but the deep forest has the only reasonably docile spiders around, so we're just about it as far as any sort of regular supply. Throw in a couple of onyxes or something nice, and I'm sure we can make a suitable presentation.
As far as getting the gem goes: we have the rightful owner here. She can't just pat us on the head and tell us to run along, or we'll take it to Izanagi and Inari and that'll make a political mess for her that she is going to want to avoid. Doesn't mean we have a lot of leverage, but we're not just some random group of adventurers trying to BS our way through the thing. We open with trying to butter her up, though: ask for her help in finding the thief and restoring the gem and the imperial throne.

Frederick isn't really listening: Keiko's latest posture adjustment has given him quite a distracting view indeed and he is now guilty of staring - deserving of a sound poke in the ribs or perhaps even a bap on the back of his head.

[Recaiden]

"But it's not like we'd leave her behind, or her us."

Cleo nods.

"I didn't realize it was so special. What if, though, she was the one who had it stolen? Rightful ownership only carries weight with certain sorts of people."

Perhaps a slow kick under the table is in order for Frederick? It seems so.

"I suppose then would be the time for random adventurer tactics. Good job finding all this information."

[Fenric]

Keiko shakes her head

Not all that special, that's why I said we wouldn't have a lot of leverage. And if she is the one who took it, we still have some bargaining room - that's probably where the warnings about being really careful about what we promise comes in...

Yeah, if all else fails, we would have to fall back on "raid the place"... not really high on my list of things I want to try, though.

Then Frederick is kicked! He starts and looks away, his ears folding briefly. But Keiko is Keiko, and notices. She looks down, then pulls the front of her shirt so she can get a better look herself.

Oh, is that what you've been looking at? Heh. Wow... that really doesn't fit at all, does it? Who'd a thought fur made that much of a difference?

She shakes her head at Freddie as she shifts smoothly back to her furry Nogitsune form

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

[Recaiden]

Cleo gives a nod.

"We don't want to agree to anything until we know where we stand with her and it."

Looks a bit away, at the hopefully embarrassed Frederick. "Across one's whole body, the fur really adds up to a whole coat, right? Not something I expected from him. "

Oh good, Keiko's her own fox self and not Karen. Less attractive sure, but less distracting, less risk of being caught staring.

[Fenric]

Oh yes: quite embarrassed now. But Keiko's not done.

You wouldn't? I'd have been surprised if he didn't! On top of the fun of peeking at something you're not supposed to, he gets to indulge his secret human curiousity.
I've never really understood why, but Frederick's clan in particular has always had a thing for humans.. that or elves, which are close enough really. Everywhere else you see one mixed-species couple in a decade maybe, but in and around Midvale in Cheritanne? It's a decent percentage of the population. Started around the end of the Dawn Wars as I understand, something odd beyond the recorded events must have happened over there.
And heh! That was another "elina" name, wasn't it?! Kelina. I have to ask somebody what that ending means, 'cause it sure shows up a lot in the Cheritanni Vulpan names.

Now Frederick has graduated to completely embarrassed, and retreats into an academic answer to Keiko's question.

Wood elvish. Means "pond". Her name was properly Ke'Elina, which is the familiar or dimunitive form of "beautiful pond". You'd maybe say "pretty pond" to get the idea across. The priestess Felina is properly Fe'Elina which is "tranquil pond" and her sister Melina is properly Ma'Elina which is "blue pond"... maybe "azure pond" if you wanted to sound more poetic.

And unlike standard fantasy apostrophes, those really do indicate a glottal stop.

[Recaiden]

"Didn't think he'd want to give you more excuses to flirt with him."

Cleo giggles.

"Is it supposed to be a secret? There's Helen and his human ancestors and everything. Maybe in Midvale they jsut get along better. Hmm. Elves have too many two-letter words then. Or is the ' part of the word? Ponds are nice."

"Anyway. Should we get going?"

[Fenric]

Frederick sighs

It's not a secret... and can we please change the subject?

Keiko giggles

Alright, but mind your manners from now on!

she smiles at Cleo

I think so! First stop, home!

She hops up and walks over to the same large flowerpot used previously where she waits for the others. Frederick finishes up his coffee and puts some money on the table, then follows.

[Recaiden]

"Consider it changed!"

Cleo returns the smile and follows Keiko to the flowerpot.

"Take us away!"

[Fenric]

Keiko smiles

OK! Off we go!

And she jumps into the shadow and off to the castle.

[Arkhosia]

[Jinkei]

Blanche shakes her head with slight sadness.
I'm sorry, but no. I really think it's best to have the time to be sure of those my feelings are for. Besides, now that I think of it, Nicole may have a slight case of yandere towards me. Just promise me whatever happens, we'll try our best to be friends.
The last sentence bears worry within

[Cyber Punk]

[Jinkei]

Jinkei inwardly curses, but outwardly smiles a bit. She starts to say 'it depends', then senses the worry in Blanche's words.

She takes the catgirl's hands and looks into her eyes. "Friends we will be, dearest Blanche, and maybe more, depending on the circumstances." Then she pecks the cat faunus' arm.

[Arkhosia]

[Jinkei]

Jinkei inwardly curses, but outwardly smiles a bit. She starts to say 'it depends', then senses the worry in Blanche's words.

She takes the catgirl's hands and looks into her eyes. "Friends we will be, dearest Blanche, and maybe more, depending on the circumstances." Then she pecks the cat faunus' arm.

The pale catgirl grins with relief, pink creeping into her cheeks at the kiss.
Thanks. You are one of the few people I can truly call my friend.
She responds, before giving a brief hug and moving to leave

[Cyber Punk]

[Jinkei]

Jinkei smiles and waves to Blanche as she leaves, then waits for a few moments, looking around, before she leaves for Foxside.

[Hexblade]

A cloaked figure enters the establishment. He is tall, but not extraordinarily so. His features are concealed by a dark mask. He walks to the bar and says "One glass of Fine Elven Wine, and a side of Roast Black Dragon Flesh." He slides a bag of platinum coins in front of him. He taps the table in front of him impatiently.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist, one brown-furred fox-person wearing a standard button-down shirt, raises an eyebrow.
"We don't sell meat from sapient beings here, sir. I can get you that wine, though." he says apologetically.

[Hexblade]

The stranger nods at Mist and replies "That would be... satisfactory." He turns away and starts to meditate. A dark blue aura surrounds him. His mask falls off, and his cloak unfolds. He is now wearing loose brown robe with a white tunic. You can see a metallic bow with blue runes inscribed in it and a lightsaber, possibly self-constructed, hanging off his belt. He seems to be an elf, but half of his face is inscribed with holy runes, while the other side is unholy.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist, who certainly can't tell the difference between holy and unholy runes, merely pours the man a glass of wine.
"There you are, sir."

[Hexblade]

The stranger takes a sip of the wine and says "Ah. Perfect. Thank you, my dear sir. In case you were wondering, my name is Thallan Deathguard and I hail from the forests of Aligya."